Perception

Perception:
Perceiving and Understanding Others
What is Perception ?
Perception
The process by which individuals select,

organize, and interpret the input from their senses to give meaning and order to the world around them.
Components of Perception
The perceiver is the person trying to interpret some
observation that he or she has just made, or the input from his or her senses.
The target of perception is whatever the perceiver is trying

to make sense of.
E.g. the target of perception is often another person.
The situation is the context in which perception takes

place.
Components of Perception
Insert Figure 4.1 here
Are perceptions always accurate? Why or why not?
The Accuracy of Perceptions
The perceptual process does not always yield

Motivating students Treating students fairly and equitably Making ethical decisions
accurate perceptions. The accuracy of perceptions is critical, however, for a number of reasons.
Those who understand what perceptions are, how

they are formed, and what influences them are in a good position to ensure that their perceptions are as accurate as possible.
What influences our perceptions?

Characteristics of the perceiver Characteristics of the target Situation
Characteristics of the perceiver
Insert Figure 4.2 here
Schemas
Definition: Schemas describe an organized pattern of
thought or behavior
They are the product of past experiences and knowledge

gathered from a variety of sources.
Schemas determine:

What information is attended to and what information is ignored How information is interpreted People are more likely to notice things that fit into their schema, (Selective Attention, Selective Distortion, Selective Retention)
Once schemas are formed, they are resistant to change.
Selective Attention Videos

Videos\selective attention test.flv Videos\Selective Attention Test 2.0.mp4
Motivational State and Mood
Motivational State: The needs,

values, and desires of a perceiver at the time of perception.
Mood: How a perceiver feels at the

time of perception.
Characteristics of the Target
Ambiguity
Social Status
Use of Impression Management
Ambiguity
Ambiguity refers to a lack of clearness or

definiteness.
When a target is ambiguous, the perceiver

needs to engage in a lot more interpretation and active construction of reality to form a perception of the target.
The more ambiguous a target is, the more

potential there is for errors in perception.
Social Status
Social status is a persons
real or perceived position in society or in an organization. status are perceived to be smarter, more credible, more knowledgeable, and more responsible for their actions than lower-status targets.
Targets with relatively high
Impression Management
Impression management is an attempt to control
the perceptions or impressions of others.
Targets are especially likely to use impression

management tactics when interacting with perceivers who have power over them and on whom they are dependent for evaluations, raises, and promotions.
Individuals who are high in self-monitoring are more

likely than individuals who are low in selfmonitoring to engage in impression management tactics.
Impression Management Tactics

Behavioral Matching
SelfPromotion
The target of perception matches his or her behavior to that of the perceiver.
The target tries to present herself or himself in as positive a light as possible.
A subordinate tries to imitate her bosss behavior by being modest and soft-spoken because her boss is modest and soft-spoken.
A worker reminds his boss about his past accomplishments and associates with coworkers who are evaluated highly. A worker stays late every night even if she has completed all of her assignments because staying late is one of the norms of her organization. A coworker compliments a manager on his excellent handling of a troublesome employee.
Conforming The target follows agreed-upon to Situational rules for behavior in the organization. Norms Appreciating or Flattering Others Being Consistent
The target compliments the perceiver. This tactic works best when flattery is not extreme and when it involves a dimension important to the perceiver. The targets beliefs and behaviors are consistent. There is agreement between the targets verbal and nonverbal behaviors.
A subordinate delivering a message to his boss looks the boss straight in the eye and has a sincere expression on his face.
Salience (Being Important)
Salience is the extent to which a target of
perception stands out in a group of people or things. Causes of salience
Being novel: Anything that makes a target unique in a
Consequences of salience
situation (e.g., being the only young person). Being figural: Standing out from the background (e.g., by wearing bright clothes). Being inconsistent with other peoples expectations: Behaving or looking in a way that is out of the ordinary.
Extreme evaluations (positive or negative) Stereotyping
Advices
Be careful not to jump to conclusions about coworkers, superiors, subordinates and students simply because they appear to fit one of your preexisting schemas. Wait to form your opinions until you have gathered enough information to make a fair judgment. When evaluating students, Make sure your perceptions of students are based on their skills, capabilities, accomplishments, and levels of performance.
Do not allow your perceptions to be influenced by characteristics of a target (such as race, age, and gender) that are unrelated to behaviors and performance. Try to treat people who stand out from others the same as you treat those who do not stand out.
Biases and Problems in Perception

Primacy Effects
The initial pieces of information that a perceiver has about a target have an inordinately large effect on the perceivers perception and evaluation of the target. The perceivers perceptions of others influence the perceivers perception of a target. Interviewers decide in the first few minutes of an interview whether or not a job candidate is a good prospect.
Contrast Effect
A managers perception of an average subordinate is likely to be lower if that subordinate is in a group with very high performers rather than in a group with very low performers. A subordinate who has made a good overall impression on a supervisor is rated as performing high-quality work and always meeting deadlines regardless of work that is full of mistakes and late.
Halo Effect
The perceivers general impression of a target influences his or her perception of the target on specific dimensions.
Biases and Problems in Perception

Similar-tome Effect
People perceive others who are similar to themselves more positively than they perceive those who are dissimilar. Supervisors rate subordinates who are similar to them more positively than they deserve.
Harshness, Leniency, and Average Tendency Knowledge of Predictor
Some perceivers tend to be overly harsh in their perceptions, some overly lenient. Others view most targets as being about average.
When rating subordinates performances, some supervisors give almost everyone a poor rating, some give almost everyone a good rating, and others rate almost everyone as being about average. A professor perceives a student more positively than she deserves because the professor knows the student had a high score on the previous exams.
Knowing how a target stands on a predictor of performance influences perceptions of the target.
Advices

Be careful not to let your first impressions have too strong an effect on your perceptions of others. Avoid categorizing people-that is, fitting them to a schema -- until you have sufficient information to form an accurate perception. When evaluating or interviewing a series of individuals, do not let your evaluations of preceding individuals influence your ratings of those that follow. Be careful not to be lenient in your perceptions of people who are similar to you and overly harsh to those who are dissimilar to you. If you tend to rate most of your students very negatively, very positively, or just about average, stop and think whether each individual truly deserves the rating he or she received. Be careful not to let the information of past results bias your own perceptions.

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Perception:

Perceiving and Understanding Others

The process by which individuals select,

The target of perception is whatever the perceiver is trying

E.g. the target of perception is often another person.

The situation is the context in which perception takes

Insert Figure 4.1 here

Are perceptions always accurate? Why or why not?

The Accuracy of Perceptions

The perceptual process does not always yield

Those who understand what perceptions are, how

What influences our perceptions?

Characteristics of the perceiver

Insert Figure 4.2 here

They are the product of past experiences and knowledge

Once schemas are formed, they are resistant to change.

Selective Attention Videos

Motivational State and Mood

Motivational State: The needs,

Mood: How a perceiver feels at the

Characteristics of the Target

Use of Impression Management

Ambiguity refers to a lack of clearness or

When a target is ambiguous, the perceiver

The more ambiguous a target is, the more

Social status is a persons

Targets with relatively high

Targets are especially likely to use impression

Individuals who are high in self-monitoring are more

Impression Management Tactics

Salience (Being Important)

Salience is the extent to which a target of

perception stands out in a group of people or things. Causes of salience

Being novel: Anything that makes a target unique in a

Extreme evaluations (positive or negative) Stereotyping

Biases and Problems in Perception

Biases and Problems in Perception

Harshness, Leniency, and Average Tendency Knowledge of Predictor

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